1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to an external air bag deployment method, for a vehicle which is configured to predict a potential collision and deploy an external airbag at a time of the collision based on the results of the prediction, without causing false operation.
More particularly, the present invention relates to an external airbag deployment method, which limits a front detection area to a predetermined area related to the characteristics of an external airbag, thus improving the implementation of a control method by eliminating the need to monitor a larger amount of data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, an external airbag that is outwardly deployed from the front or rear side of a vehicle has been developed and presented as a technology for improving vehicle safety. This technology is configured to deploy an external airbag by detecting and predicting a vehicle collision. However, in this technology maximum shock absorption effects must be obtained by deploying the external airbag at a precise time of the collision, and stability must be improved by correctly deploying the external airbag at a time point at which the airbag must be deployed, and system reliability must be improved by preventing the airbag from being falsely deployed at a time point at which the airbag must not be deployed.
A conventional method of controlling an airbag module using information a obtained prior to a collision includes detecting pieces of information regarding an object located in front of a vehicle using an ultrasonic sensor and radar sensor mounted in the vehicle; comparing information regarding a distance to the object detected by the ultrasonic sensor with information about a distance to the object detected by the radar sensor; selecting at least one of the information regarding the object detected by the ultrasonic sensor and the information about the same object detected by the radar sensor based on the results of the comparison of the distance information, and determining whether the object is located in an area where there is a possibility that the object may collide with the vehicle, based on the selected information; and the fourth step of deploying an airbag module installed within the vehicle, based on the results of the determination of whether the object is located in the area where there is a possibility that the object may collide with the vehicle.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the better understanding of the background of the present invention, and is not intended to mean that the present invention falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.